By DJ Harding
The Connecticut Sun returned back home after traveling to Las Vegas to take on the Aces. The Sun suffered back to back losses for the first time this season and came into tonight on a 2 game losing streak.
Coach White pregame commented on how they focused on defense which was evident in the first quarter.
The Sun jumped out to a 14-4 lead behind Alyssa Thomas who had 5 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds in the first four minutes. Thomas leads the league with 13 double-doubles and 3 triple-doubles. Thomas also leads in Rebounds and is Second in Assists which earned her Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors.
Thomas ended the night with 16 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds despite not netting a double-double or triple-double she still leads the league in both.
By the end of the first quarter the lead only grew from 10 in the first four minutes to 23 after the first with a score of 29-6. Along with Thomas’s 11 first quarter points, DeWanna Bonner and Rebecca Allen each had 7 points.
Allen capped the night off with 14 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.
Bonner meanwhile scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
The Storm crossed double figures with 6 minutes left in the second quarter. By halftime Seattle reached 24 points but the lead grew more from 23 to 33. Jewell Lyod who is an all-star starter had 9 points at the half which led her team. Tiffany Hayes became the fourth Sun scorer in double figures with 10 points at halftime.
Lyod finished the night with 22 points which led all scorers. Loyd leads the league in scoring with 25.8 points per game.
Hayes had 14 points in the win while dishing out 5 assists.
The third quarter saw the Sun lead stay in the thirties with the score after three quarters sitting at 80-45. Loyd was the only Storm player in double figures to this point but rookie Jordan Horston had 4 points of her own.
The ninth pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Horston scored 6 points.
Connecticut went on to win 93-73 even though they won by 20 points the largest Sun lead was 37 points. The Sun had 8 of the 9 Sun players getting on the scoreboard and 6 of those 8 getting in double figures.
Natisha Hiedeman with 14 points and Tyasha Harris with 11 points joined Bonner, Thomas, Hayes, and Allen in scoring double figures.
Coach White postgame said “we played together and I’m proud of the effort and how we played together. It was also great to see the bench get quality minutes which will be crucial down the road.”
All five Sun players reached double figures while only two of the Storm reached double figures with Kia Nurse scoring 11 joining Jewell Loyd in the ten plus point category.
The Sun will defend home court again on Sunday against the Washington Mystics with tip off scheduled for 3:00 PM EST.